Apparatus for the storage of elongate material

ABSTRACT

A container having entrance and exit apertures and two substantially flat parallel sides at least one of whose dimensions is large compared to their separation is provided with a driven endless belt, one of whose runs extends from the entrance to the exit aperture and forms at least part of one of those sides. Feed rolls at the entrance aperture and a spool unwinding roll exterior to the enclosure are driven from the same source as that which drives the endless belt, and a sensor in the container adjusts the speed of the driving means inversely with the quantity of material in the container.

limited States Patent [1 1 Uehninger APPARATUS FOR THE STORAGE OF ELONGATE MATERIAL Inventor: Jurg Oehninger, Winterthur,

Switzerland Assignee: Sulzer Brothers Limited,

Winterthur, Switzerland Filed: Aug. 24, 1972 Appl. No.: 283,508

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 2, 1971 Switzerland 012874/71 US. Cl. 242/55, 226/118 Int. Cl B6511 75/02 Field of Search 242/55; 226/118; 221/253;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,281,042 10/1966 Hardison et al. 226/118 [111 3,825,198 [451 Jul 23, 1974 3,447,707 6/1969 Furst 214/307 Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian Attorney, Agent, or FirmPennie & Edmonds [5 7 ABSTRACT A container having entrance and exit apertures and two substantially flat parallel sides at least one of whose dimensions is large compared to their separation is provided with a driven endless belt, one of whose runs extends from the entrance to the exit aperture and forms at least part of one of those sides. Feed rolls at the entrance aperture and a spool unwinding roll exterior to the enclosure are driven from the same source as that which drives the endless belt, and a sensor in the container adjusts the speed of the driving means inversely with they quantity of material in the container.

11 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJuL23mM 3'825'198 SHEU 10F 3 APPARATUS FOR THE STORAGE OF ELONGATE MATERIAL The present invention pertains toapparatus for the storage of flexible strip-shaped or filamentary material for use in textile machines such as looms, wherein the material is consumed intermittently and is accumulated in the intervals between the times of consumption, the apparatus including a storage container for the material. The material in question, hereinafter termed elongate material, may be yarn, thread, twine, or stripor ribbon-shaped material, for example of polyolefins (C,,H such as polypropylene or polyethylene. It may alternatively be made of metal or of glass fibers, etc. Materials of these kinds can for example be employed to form the weft in cloth woven on looms When used with a loom the storage apparatus is disposed ahead or upstream of the loom, in the sense of the flow or progression of the weft material, the loom being for example of the gripper shuttle type in which the supply spool or bobbin for the weft material remains outside the shed.

In certain previously proposed storage devices of the type to which the invention pertains, the material advances as consumed toward the bottom of a container and is drawn out through an opening in the bottom thereof. It has also been proposed to provide such a container in which the material is held in movement by means of an air stream.

In these known devices theprogress of the material through the container can be impeded or interrupted because of the tendency of the material to adhere to the inside walls of the container. This is particularly the case with strip-shaped polyrpopylene materials because of the fact that such synthetic materials have a strong tendency to accumulate electrostatic charge when pulled off of a storage spool. The electrostatically charged strip-shaped material then has a strong tendency to adhere to guiding elements alongits path or to the inside walls of the storage container.

When an air stream is employed to prevent such adhesion, the inlet or suction side of a fan is customarily disposed in the vicinity of the exit aperture from the container. This produces a relatively strong airstream directed inwardly into the container from the outside thereof through the outlet aperture therefrom, and the result is a substantial resistance to withdrawal of the material through that aperture.

It is an object of the invention to provide a storage apparatus which is improved in respect to the facility with which the material is moved through it. In accordance with the invention at least one portion of the wall surface of the container is constructed so as to be movable and is driven so as to advance the material through the container. As tests have shown, with this arrangement even electrostatically charged material will be smoothly advanced through the container and through an exit aperture therefrom for further processing, for example for employment as the weft in a loom. The storage apparatus of the invention further effects a cleaning of the material passed through it, freeing the material from dust or other particles adhering thereto as a consequence of previous processing steps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be further described in terms of a number of presently preferred embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a storage apparatus in accordance with the invention, shown in conjunction with elements of a gripper shuttle loom;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view, at an enlarged scale, taken on the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a detail of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate modifications of the apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to that of FIG. 2, but i DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 11 the gripper shuttle loom is diagrammatically indicated by the showing of a weft brake l, of two stationary eyes 2 and 4, of a weft-stretching device 6 moving upwardly and downwardly as indicated by the arrow 5, and of a weft material 7 which with the help of gripper shuttles such as the one shown at 11 is intermittently picked through the loom shed formed by warp threads 8. Gripper shuttle looms are more com pletely disclosed for example in US. Pat. No. 3,426,807 assigned to the assignee hereof.

In the following description the weft material will be assumed to be a polypropylene ribbon or strip, for example of two to four millimeters width.

The supply spool or bobbin 12 for the weft material rests, under its own weight or with the assistance of a spring, on and againt a driving roll unwinding roller 13. The roll 13 is driven from a motor 15 by means of a belt 14. The motor also continuously drives afeed roll 16 by means of a belt 17. A roll 18 rests againstand cooperates with the feed roll 16. The feed roll 16 is dimensioned to have a slightly higher peripheral speed than the drive roll 13, so that the portion 7a of the weft strip between the roll 13 and the rolls l6 and 18 will be maintained under tension. From the pair of rolls l6 and 18 the weft strip is fed to an intermediate weft storage apparatus indicated at the bracket 19.

The storage apparatus 19 includes a container generally indicated at 21, of generally box shape, having side plates 20 and 20a (FIG. 2) and a viewing window 20b (FIG. 1). The feed rolls l6 and 18 are disposed adjacent an entrance aperture 22 into the container. The

weft strip 7 is fed by the rolls l6 and 18 into the interior 23 of the container. The container has between its walls 20 and 20a a small width a as indicated in FIG. 2, corresponding to the width b of the weft strip. More particularly the plates 20 and 20a, which are substantially flat and parallel, have at least one of their linear dimensions (other than that of their thickness) large compared to their separation a. The rear wall of the container 21, as seen in FIG. 1, is formed however by a run 24 of an endless belt 27 which passes over rollers 25 and 26 and over the inside surface of plate 20. The drive to the belt 27 comes from a roller 32, fixed to roller 25, the roller 32 being driven by means of a belt 28 coupled to the motor 15 as seen in FIG. 1. The belt 27 bears against a tension roll 31 which is subjected to the action of a spring 29, and advantageously has a width substantially equal to the height of the interior 23 of the container as seen in FIG. 1. The diameter of the roller 26 is substantially smaller than that of the roller 25, in order that the roller 26 may be disposed directly at the entrance aperture 22. In consequence, during oepration the weft strip arriving through aperture 22 is immediately engaged by the roller 26 and the run 24 of belt 27 thereon, and is carried forward in the direction of the arrow 33. The container 21 includes adjacent the entrance aperture 22 a portion of progressively increasing width (measured vertically in FIG. 1, i.e. parallel to the flat plates 20 and 20a but transversely of the direction of motion of the run 24 from left to right in FIGS. 1 and 2) defined by oblique end walls 35. In advance of its outlet aperture 36 the container possesses a similarly narrowing portion of decreasing width defined by oblique opposite end walls 37, between which is located the exit aperture 36. The weft strip 7 passes through the interior 23 of the container in the form of vertical loops 38. From the exit aperture 36 the strip may pass to a gripper shuttle loom, as indicated in FIG. 1.

When as illustrated in FIG. 1 the container is filled with loops of the strips 7, a light pressure is exerted by the loops on a sensor 41 pivoted at 42. This closes a contact at 43 (FIG. 1) in an electric circuit 44 which operates through a control device 45 to de-energize the motor at its supply conductors R, S and T. The motor slows down and eventually comes to a stop, which process may be accelerated by the provision of a brake. As soon as the quantity of weft strip stored in the container is reduced by the picking of one or more wefts through the loom, the sensor 41 will rise again by operation of a spring 46 (FIG. 3), so as to re-energize the motor and cause the weft strip to be fed again to the inlet opening 22 of the container.

In the modified construction of FIG. 4, the sensor 41 constitutes the lower end wall 37 of the outlet section of declining height in the container. In the embodiment of FIG. 5 the sensor 41 is fastened to two resilient strips 40 which tend to hold the sensor in he position illustrated, leaving the circuit 44 open. When the container is filled with weft material, that material exerts a slight pressure on the wall portion 37 of the sensor, shifting the sensor 41 to the right as seen in FIG. 5 so as to close the circuit 44 at the contact 43.

With the storage apparatus of theinvention, weft material may be handled for consumption rates up to one thousand meters per minute and more by the loom. The speed of the conveyor belt 27 may be for example thirty meters per minute with the quantity of weft material stored being for example forty meters or more when the container is filled with the loops 38. For heavier weft material, a storage container of greater, i.e. higher or longer dimensions can be used.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6 two opposite wall portions of the container 1911 are formed by runs 24 and 24a of conveyor belts 27 and 27a running on rollers 25, 25a 26, 26a and 31, 31a. The belt 27a is driven by gears 48 and 49 from the drive at roller 32 to the belt 27, so that the two belts move synchronously.

In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the depth of the storage space, i.e. its dimension parallel to the width of the strip 7 as stored therein, is made adjustable by means of bolts and nuts 51 to permit that depth to be suitably matched to the width of the strip. The rollers 25 and 26 as in the previously described embodiments are journaled in the plate 20 or extensions thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 8, each of the combinations 51 includes a screw 53, a nut 54 and a compression spring 55 between the plates 20 and 20a to permit adjustment of the spacing of those plates. A variation on this construction is illustrated in FIG. 9 in which spacers 56 and 57 are provided in place of the springs 55. With either construction the spacing of the paltes, and hence the width a of the storage space 23, can be readily adjusted.

In other applications of the invention, the stored material can be withdrawn from the storage space at a velocity which varies, but which need not fall to zero. In general and subject to the operation of the sensor 41 and control 45, the material is supplied to the storage space at the entrance aperture 22 with a constant speed and is withdrawn at 36 with a variable speed which may or may not fall to zero. The storage apparatus of the invention can also be employed in bobbin winding and in knitting operations.

While the invention has been hereinabove described in terms of a number of presently preferred embodiments thereof, the invention is not limited thereto but rather comprehends all modifications of and departures from those embodiments properly falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 4

1. Apparatus for storing flexible elongate material for use in textile machines, said apparatus comprising means defining a container having spaced entrance and outlet apertures for entry and exit of flexible elongate material into and out of the container, and means defining a movable bounding surface to the container whose motion is substantially parallel to the separation of said entrance and outlet apertures to advance the material within the container from said entrance to said outlet aperture.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said firstnamed means define a container having two substantially flat parallel sides having at least one linear dimension large compared to their separation and in which said second-named means. comprise an endless belt of which one run forms at least part of one of said flat parallel sides.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 including a tension roller engaging said belt.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said container includes entrance and exit apertures spaced apart along the direction of motion of said run, said apparatus further including movable means to feed said material into said container at said entrance aperture.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said feeding means comprise a feed roller adjacent said entrance aperture.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said container has a width parallel to the surface of said flat parallel sides and transverse of the direction of motion of said run which increases from said entrance aperture and which decreases toward said exit aperture.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 further including means to drive an unwinding roller upstream of said feed roller at a peripheral speed lower than that of said feed roller.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 including a common drive means for said endless belt, feed roller and unwinding roller drive means.

3,825,198 6 9. Apparatus according to claim 5 including means named means comprise a movable sensor.

1V e m l 3135;13Zhe $llfheliiil lllei inili$llii Apparatus 9 'f' belt as an inverse function of Said quantity to ad ust the separation of said flat parallel sides.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said last- 5 (5 in) I n CE-R'll FICA'IE O F CURRILLI ION Patent No; 3, 5, 9 Dated July 23, 197AL Invq ncofls) Jurg Oehninger It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent .and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

1 Column .1, line 66, insert --nowbefore be. .Column 2, line 9, insert -or-- before "unwinding". Column 3, line 2, for "he" substitute ----the-- Column 4-, line 9, for v' 'paltes" substitute --pla.tes--.

Signed a nd sealed this'3rd'day of'De' cember 197 4.

(SEAL) Attest:

McoY M. GIBSON JR} a c. MARSHALL DANN AEtesting-Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. Apparatus for storing flexible elongate material for use in textile machines, said apparatus comprising means defining a container having spaced entrance and outlet apertures for entry and exit of flexible elongate material into and out of the container, and means defining a movable bounding surface to the container whose motion is substantially parallel to the separation of said entrance and outlet apertures to advance the material within the container from said entrance to said outlet aperture.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first-named means define a container having two substantially flat parallel sides having at least one linear dimension large compared to their separation and in which said second-named means comprise an endless belt of which one run forms at least part of one of said flat parallel sides.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 including a tension roller engaging said belt.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said container includes entrance and exit apertures spaced apart along the direction of motion of said run, said apparatus further including movable means to feed said material into said container at said entrance aperture.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said feeding means comprise a feed roller adjacent said entrance aperture.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said container has a width parallel to the surface of said flat parallel sides and transverse of the direction of motion of said run which increases from said entrance aperture and which decreases toward said exit aperture.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 5 further including means to drive an unwinding roller upstream of said feed roller. at a peripheral speed lower than that of said feed roller.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 7 including a common drive means for said endless belt, feed roller and unwinding roller drive means.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 5 including means responsive to the quantity of material in the container for controlling the speed of the feed roller and endless belt as an inverse function of said quantity.
 10. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said last-named means comprise a movable sensor.
 11. Apparatus according to claim 2 including means to adjust the separation of said flat parallel sides. 